


Liquid Musing

by Skeren



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Gen, Solitary Confinement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 03:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5852596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeren/pseuds/Skeren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things used to be different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liquid Musing

**Author's Note:**

> Written June 2005.
> 
> Yes, I am aware that Lust is a woman in the series. This is referencing the fact that at one point Greed mentions a previous Lust.

Drip, drip, drip.

The sound of a drip is the same no matter what was causing it. It could be water from a tap, drugs in a saline bag, blood from a body that had been torn to ribbons... Liquid on liquid always sounded the same. Before he came here, he’d never paid it very much attention, but he couldn’t help wondering at the cause of that steady drip that he’d been listening for such a long, long time. Between musings though, his mind wandered, and he let himself remember how it was that he came to be in this place.

He hadn’t realized how lucky he was.

* * *

He had Envy, Lust, and Her as his family. Dante was the only downside of the deal. She was bossy and wouldn’t let him satisfy the desires that were at the core of his soul, though she was insistent that he didn’t have such a thing. He didn’t like the restrictions, but he didn’t want to be pulled away from his brothers just yet. He’d leave, and he’d have them come with him when the time came.

It was something for the future, the near future perhaps, but it wasn’t pressing. No, at that moment he was content to flex his hands, staring as the dark velvet-black that made up his claws was activated, then retracted, activated, then retracted. It was positively fascinating the way it felt to sweep the change over his skin, doing something that nobody else could. Not even Envy could do this the same way he did.

It made him wonder if that’s why Envy never seemed to settle in a form, changing his shape every few years, hiding what he really looked like. The newest one seemed to be a cross of him and Lust, and he hadn’t changed it in a while. He didn’t mind the frequent changes in appearance himself, they made things interesting. Lust on the other hand… Well, he hadn’t seemed to know what to make of the newest form at first.

Glancing sideways, he ran his gaze over the two, the green haired form tucked securely under the chin of the other. He met the dark violet cat eyes that had been watching him play with his abilities for the last hour. That was nothing out of the ordinary, those two ending up cuddled together after a bout of play while leaving him off to the side. They tended to complain about how clingy he was when he was resting if he tried to get them to include him.

“Good morning.” The husky tenor broke through his thoughts, reminding him that he wasn’t the only one in the room, though he’d been looking right at the youngest sin. “And what are you musing over now? You were staring at us again.” 

“Not vain enough this morning to say I was staring at you?” He rolled over, pressing along Envy’s back so that Lust’s elegant hands could play with his hair. He knew that She would come to get them all out of bed, though She’d long since given up on not allowing them to share a room. Not to say She hadn’t tried, but the attempt had been futile.

“And when do you ever look just at me when we’re not alone together? I know better than that.” A small, amused smile crossed the sin’s lips before he pulled his hand back to rake through his shoulder length red hair, looking for tangles. 

The actions, combined with the conversation going on around him, finally served to draw Envy out of his rest. “Would you two shut up? And get off me, it’s too hot for this cuddly shit.” 

Envy had just shoved the pair away from him when Dante came into the room, scowling over how close they were. Greed knew she was just jealous.

* * *

It was only a few weeks later before everything was different. Envy had been sent away for longer and longer times on some obscure task, and Lust had returned from a city where a young sin had been found. Dante as well was different, the change from the older, aged woman to the young new form jarring.

For the first few days he’d been there, the newest sin had been brilliant, curious and attentive, his attention to detail amazing, though his appearance was the farthest from human among them. After Dante had gotten her new form, the child sin was simply that. A child with the name of Gluttony. Lust had turned his attention to keeping the sin out of trouble, feeling responsible for him since he’d been the one to find him. The actions took him further from the two he had spent so much time with before, leaving Greed effectively on his own. 

Greed had turned his attention to the human creatures he’d been watching for so long, not caring for the sensation of being without companions, but that, in turn, drove Envy to demand those missions that would keep him away longer.

“Why don’t you spend your time with Lust if you miss me?” The words were annoyed, but not exactly angry.

“Lust is too busy to spend time with right now. He’s dealing with Gluttony, remember? It seems that takes his full attention." Greed knew his point was made when Envy finally got angry, turning to go.

“I don’t see why you need to go after those humans. They’re useless, and they die.” That was the last thing that Envy said to him for years.

It was a vicious cycle, the way what Dante had done to Gluttony had broken up their little relationship, and in turn further created dissent. He was sure she’d seen it as a victory, a chance to retake control that she’d thought they’d been stealing from her with their closeness. 

When she’d come up to him one morning, a malicious grin hidden behind a sweet smile, and she tried to touch his array marks… he’d run. He’d backed away from her touch, blinding insight striking him at what was behind the action. He didn’t want to become little more than an experiment as Gluttony had. He was Greed, and he had wants and needs that she wasn’t letting him appease. There was no way he was going to give her what she wanted when she wouldn’t even grant him small things to occupy his need. Especially when he realized she never willingly touched any of them when it wasn’t to experiment.

When she’d gotten angry, he’d gone on the defensive, shield rising without him even being fully aware of it. Then, he’d left, giving her no chance to exact a punishment for the rebellion. He’d thought he’d won at that point, though her infuriated scream had still been ringing in his ears.

* * *

He had five years to himself. In that time, he’d gotten a bar, having no qualms about shamelessly flirting with anything that caught his eye, and that ensured he was never lonely. The place wasn’t well known at first, but slowly people from the area had started to filter in, rumor having it that the place was neutral territory where all were welcome. Rumors of that kind seemed to be great for business.

In all, it was a good life. He still missed those days he’d spent with his brothers, but he put it out of his mind, settling back to enjoy the day to day chaos that came with being a bar owner. Some days were calm, while others had been rather… hectic. One of the hectic days, set somewhere in the first few months of business, had started his reputation for having a live and let live policy.

“Come down from there.” Greed put his hands up, trying to coax the teen out of the rafters.

“No! You’ll make me go home, I just know you will!” The girl glared down, short hair framing her heart-shaped face as she tightened her grip, her other hand hitching her pants higher as they seemed to slip a bit.

“And why would I do that?” Seeing his gesture of entreaty was futile, he started to climb up instead. 

“Everyone else has! I can’t stay there! He’s a madman!” She shook her head sharply, leaning back away from him as he got too close.

“Fine, I won’t send you back, but what are you expecting staying up there,” He gestured around the rafters with a raised eyebrow, “would get a lady like you?”

“Well…” She blushed, looking off to the side with a tiny grimace. “I wasn’t thinking that far, just that this was the closest place, and he would never think to look _up_ if he came in here looking…”

“Don’t you worry pretty, you don’t have to leave here if you don’t want to. What’s your name?” He reached out, brushing her hair back as he spotted the bruise that covered the side of her face. He didn’t like it when people hit ladies, it was uncivilized, but apparently that’s why this girl was here, hiding in the rafters of his bar.

“Larissa Curtis.” She narrowed her eyes, slapping his hand away. “Don’t.”

“Touchy. Well Larissa, welcome to the Devil’s Nest.”

She’d become his manager in the years that followed, taking care of the money once it became clear that he was more likely to spend it than to invest it back into the bar. After her, came others. A few criminals, a few lowlifes, but mostly just regular people wanting to have a place to live and work with some degree of safety. 

The day Lust came into his bar, he should have known better than to brush away his words. He hadn’t cared if Dante had wanted him to come back, he’d been happy where he was. He came a second time, letting him know that she was upset he hadn’t come yet. The third time, Envy came with him. 

“She’s really serious Greed. You need to come back.” Lust shook his head, glancing around the little haven that the older sin had created, his uneasiness at being around so many humans clear only in how he adjusted his overcoat against his slender frame.

He was about to answer when Envy slipped in the door, leaning against the wall beside it so he could watch the two interact, arms crossed. The other sin being there as well had been new, unexpected. It had made him change the way he’d handled the situation in a most unfortunate way. “I’ll come talk with you… not here though.”

He leaned over the bar, murmuring something to Larissa that drew a frown, but she nodded anyway. She knew he’d come back as he said, but she clearly didn’t like that he’d felt the need to say so. A moment later, a small smirk on his face, the tall sin was moving down the street, fingers laced behind his back as he waited for the other two to start talking.

“You should have come back the first time she asked Greed.” It was Envy that spoke, his arm draping around the defiant sin’s waist as he started to stumble in his steps, his other hand casually swinging a bag. “When you didn’t you just gave her more cause to punish you.”

When Greed looked up, facing his own skull, he only heard Lust’s quiet apology, and his admonishment that he shouldn’t have lingered.

* * *

So now, he lay here, listening to the sound of a drip. It hadn’t changed in all the time he’d been here, just a steady fall of liquid on liquid, almost hypnotic in the way that it never changed. The only sound aside from it was the random hollow murmur of people speaking in places he couldn’t get to, entirely unaware of him being there at all. 

Drip, drip, drip…

Kaboom.


End file.
